Where We Are
by Brooke1
Summary: BX Fanfic List Anniversary Challenge response. So, you guessed it, its BX.


Title: Where We Are

Author: Brooke 

Email: yabbadabbadome13@yahoo.com 

Rating: PG 

Disclaimer: Buffy and friends are owned by Joss, Mutant Enemy, 20th Century Fox, The UPN and whoever else has rights to the show. 

Summary: Fluffy answer to Shawn's Anniversary Challenge. 

Distribution: I don't know why anybody would want this, but if somebody does…sure. 

Feedback: Do it fast, like a man! JUST GIVE IT!!!!!

A/N: AU post season 7. The Scoobs and the mini-Slayers saved Sunnydale without blowing it up. Spike didn't die and even Joyce is there. Good times. No Anya and none of that BS nonsense happened…um…its AU, just read and see what I don't mention and what I do and that's what happened. Buffy and Xander got together after saving the world the last time and are married.

This is archived at my group: The Unattainable ()

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Xander rolled over in the bed, the bright yellow light permeating the room assaulting his eyes even before they opened. He yawned and reached out under he covers to the other side only to find it empty and his fingers sliding over the cool sheets.

"Buff?" he mumbled and opened one eye. Yep, the bed was empty. Xander yawned again and sat up. Wiping his hand back through his hair he swung his legs out of bed and shuffled out of the bedroom. "Babe?" he called again quieter, just to get Buffy's attention where he saw her curled at one end of the couch watching some morning talk show.

"Morning," she greeted over her shoulder even as she heard Xander's feet padding with a just-woke-up incoherence over the carpet towards her. Buffy hummed when she felt his warm hand rest just on the base of her neck and she craned her face up to him with a sweet smile in place. Her expression remained through the lingering good morning kiss he bestowed on her before, he himself, pulled back with a warm smile and brushed his hand up over the side of her face, stroking some of the loose hair back.

"Morning," he greeted in kind, but then yawned. Buffy was giggling at him as he resumed his trek to the kitchen while absently smacking his lips and scratching his stomach.

"I made coffee." Buffy called out after him.

Xander chuckled even as he poured himself a cup. "I supposed the actual food portion of the morning is up to me, then?"

"Well," Buffy responded, obviously engrossed in her show again. "Unless you're a fan of burned microwave bacon, then I suggest you look into the Chinese leftovers in the fridge."

He shrugged and opened the refrigerator, grapping an open container of shrimp fried rice. 

"And anything shrimp is mine," she called out again. Xander rolled his eyes… "And don't roll your eyes at me."

"How does she do that?" he muttered to himself and snatched up the Dan-dan noodles before turning to get some forks and heading back out to Buffy in the living room. "Breakfast is served, milady," he grinned, and Buffy smiled back brightly and took her rice from him. 

"Much thanks, kind sir."

"The least I can do." Xander shrugged and Buffy nodded. "And I'll thank you to not agree with me so readily in the future."

"Aww," Buffy pouted and leant forward in her seat. She reached out and ruffled her hand through his still messy bed hair. "You're a great husband…still."

"Again," Xander looked at her sideways and spoke sarcastically, "try to contain your enthusiasm."

Buffy sat back and forked some rice into her mouth, then reached out to the center table and took Xander's cup of coffee. "I am enthused," she countered with all the seriousness in the world. "It's been two years…no- we dated for like a year and a half…"

"A year and nine months," Xander clarified while watching on confused as Sharon Osborne lay in bed next to Alec Baldwin. 

"A year and nine months," Buffy narrowed her eyes at his correction. "But the point is that I haven't chased you away, or sent you to hell, or driven you crazy and had you burned alive…"

"Driven me crazy? That's a disputable…" He was cut off when Buffy's foot snapped out from beneath her connected fairly solidly with his shoulder.

"*And*," she continued with an arched eyebrow, "And this is the most unbelievable fact. I'm not even sick of you yet." Xander turned sharply with his bottom lip jutted out. Buffy fought her own laughter at his mock hurt filled expression, "I mean, every waking morning you're there breathing all loud through your mouth, and you're long toenails, and don't even get me started on the nocturnal gastric emissions…"

Buffy was cut off with a loud gushing out of air when her husband lunged himself across the couch at her. She was pinned beneath him while he tickled her sides mercilessly and she squirmed against the couch cushions. 

"You asked for it, Keebler!"

She couldn't even suck in a breath through her laughter to voice her massive detest of that nickname. The Slayer side kicked in and while trying to control the shaking of her arms she reached for each of his hands, grasping them and holding them tight so that he couldn't get away, but Xander did try to pull a few times.

Buffy just smiled deviously when his new worried features flashed back to her and she could tell that he was waiting for her retaliation. Knew that he knew that the 'Keebler' crack was too far, especially since she had made him swear on his Babylon 5 plates that he would never never call her that, again…not after he had said it in the Magic Box one day not long after they had started dating and even Giles had broken out laughing at her. She could tell he was hoping that she wouldn't take her wrath to the plates.

"Don't make me spend our second anniversary finding a lawyer, instead of showering you with all my love and affection." She said menacingly, instead of breaking his collectables.

"And gifts?" Xander couldn't contain the innocent twitch in his voice.

"Not if you don't deserve them," Buffy yanked him down harder against her by her grip on his wrists, and smirked at Xander's groan when she was supporting his whole weight on her body, her legs wrapped around his waist.

"Them?" The twinkle still remained despite their current position. 

"It," Buffy corrected right on the heels of his last question.

"Don't make me spend our anniversary finding a new wife. A not cheap one."

Buffy opened her mouth in shock and rolled him sharply to the right, poising him over the edge of the couch and Xander grunted in surprise. The only thing that was keeping him from hitting the floor was Buffy's hold on his wrists with her hands and his waist with her legs. "Say that again," she threatened.

"Girlfriend," Xander continued to joke. "I meant girlfriend."

Buffy was laughing when she let him go and Xander dropped to the floor with a loud thump. "Damn right," she swung off the side of the couch after him before he could stand up and stood so that either of her feet was planted on by each of his hips. She looked down on him with a tight lipped smirk while Xander smiled up at her hopefully, and put her hands on her hips. "You agreed that you would never have another wife. Signed that paper and everything."

"Would I want another one? The one I have now is all…" he was cut short when Buffy stamped playfully on his stomach. "Beautiful and perfect, I was going to say," he pretended weakly to be regaining his wind.

"Get up and get dressed, sweet talker," Buffy said dryly and stepped over him, not without being given the secret once over when she was stepping over his face. "We're not spending the whole day here."

Xander craned his neck and watched her walk away upside down. "Did I ever tell you how hot it is when you're domineering?" He rolled over quickly and pushed himself to his feet, jogging into the bedroom after his wife. He found her perusing the closet and jumped up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

"We haveta go to the shop and see Will, oh, and I promised mom I'd be by…" She was fast becoming distracted from her task with Xander pressed behind her and holding her tight.

"Mmmhmm," Xander mumbled. His mouth was closing tiny half kisses around the spot where he was sucking on the column of her throat and his fingers were dancing at the hem of her tank top. He heard Buffy groan and relax into him completely. He smiled and scooped her tiny form up in his arms, holding for a brief moment before taking a couple steps and tossing her back onto the bed. She was giggling again as he leapt after her, "Happy anniversary, baby."

~*~

Later

~*~

"I'm serious this time, Xander," Buffy insisted without much actual conviction. She was completely relaxed under the warm spray of the shower and now the added touch of her husband's hands massaging her shoulders and back. "We really need to go."

"We will," Xander whispered over the splattering of the water. She had said that she was going to take a shower and Xander had given her all of five minutes of thinking that she was actually going to get through it alone today, of all days, before he hopped into the fairly spacious cubicle with her. For somebody who seemed to be in such a rush, Buffy sure didn't offer much resistance to his plan. 

"Now," she continued weakly. "Start…" She trailed off when Xander's hand slipped down her spine and slipped between… "…showering," she finished after a brief intake of air.

"C'mon, Hun." Xander was grinning deviously despite the pleading in his voice. That was for Buffy's benefit – he had to appease the 'you can't tell me what to do' mentality of the Slayer, but his wife, she had given into his manipulations a looong while ago. "It's our anniversary. They all expect us to be doing it."

Buffy's head lolled to the right when Xander's massage grew to encompass small feather light kisses on the back of her neck. "We already appeased them then."

"Yeah," Xander hummed while tracing a water droplet back up Buffy's back with just the tip of his tongue. "But I've always been *way* too much of a people pleaser." His hands that were holding his wife's hips crept forward until his arms were encircling her waist and he was hugging her back to him, both under the spray of the water. "It's why I haveta insist that we indulge them some more."

"You actually think that our friends and family, including my mother, supports you in this?" Buffy chuckled and felt Xander hesitate for the briefest second before he resumed his actions on her neck. 

"She said that we're in the clear as long as we stay in the house. Remember, she's not paying anymore fines."

Buffy seemed to consider that for a moment before finally giving in. She turned in his arms so quickly that Xander stumbled back into the tile wall to brace himself, his arms now around her waist. "Well, Mr. 'Nobody can see us in this parking lot', I think if you'll recall that it was bail, not a fine."

"If you'll recall, we're not in a parking lot now…"

"Touché, Xander Harris." 

"I knew you wouldn't want to let Mom down." Xander wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and turned his wife's laughter into a moan with his deep kiss. 

~*~

Footage Missing…

~*~

"For real this time, sweetie. Cut it out." Buffy rolled her eyes shut when she felt Xander's hands slide into the back pockets of her jeans as she was bent and examining the contents of the refrigerator. She heard him humming when he walked out of the bedroom and she held a faint hope that the shower would have rid him of any lingering friskiness. That was until she heard the whistling and cat call from the kitchen doorway.

Xander flexed his fingers in her pockets and Buffy jerked upright with a squeal. "I just can't keep my hands off of you, you irresistible temptress, you." He saw her smile when he bent over her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek; taking steps back from the fridge and pulling her with him.

Buffy moved with him and laughed when Xander used his hold on her to start swaying her hips against his while walking them crookedly across the tiled floor. "I already have my shoes on," she protested and heard Xander huff loudly.

"That's got nothing to do with me."

"It has everything to do with you," Buffy denied with an arched eyebrow. "If you think grabbing my ass is going to…"

Xander bent down and spoke softly so that his breath was hot on her ear. Buffy crooked her neck slightly to watch him out of the corner or her eye as he continued to move them. "I just want to dance with my wife, that's all. Why is everything always about sex with you?"

Buffy barked out a laugh. "With me?! This coming from the man who ended up with the flu two months ago because I'm also irresistible with a runny nose and in a bed of dirty Kleenex?"

"Your sick voice is a sexy ploy," Xander whined playfully. "You knew that and you still kept saying all that really hot stuff about your fever and post nasal drip," he joked.

They had moved into the living room with Xander still controlling their playful dance. He tugged Buffy back by her pockets a little bit more and she stepped back until she was standing on his feet instead of the floor and he widened his steps. "There's still nothing remotely sexy about mucus," Buffy denied with her body pressed hard back against her husband's body. "You always think with your little head…instead of your other freakishly large one."

Xander made a shocked noise at her good natured ribbing and purposely squeezed his hands harder on her butt through her jeans. "And you always think with your mu…"

"If you rhyme that again you won't have to worry about either for a looong time, sweetheart." He shut up immediately behind her. "Good boy," Buffy smiled. She had trained him well over the years. "Now dance us over to Wills'."

He started moving towards the door, but protested vocally. "You want me to fetch you the paper or play dead or anything else?"

Buffy held onto his forearms while she rocked back and forth with his wide waddle. "No," Buffy paused in consideration and Xander stopped moving in mock disbelief. She hopped off of his feet and whirled to face him with a bright smile. "You could learn how to hit the water in the toilet – ooh, or to put the seat back down."

"You could learn how to put the seat back up."

Buffy's smile widened at his frown. "Aww, its ok pookie. I'll spend at least six more months working with you on that," she reached up and patted his cheek. "As for right now," she slipped her hand down over his chest and then hooked her fingers over his jeans waistband, tugging lightly while wearing a flirtatious grin that earned a leer from Xander, "Mush."

~*~

"I'm tellin ya Buff. If we walk out of here empty handed…"

"You'll what? Not talk to the only other people who like you besides me anymore?" Buffy shook her head at Xander's pout and let him push open the door to the Magic Box for her. "It's not about gifts. We didn't get married for toasters and China."

"Speak for yourself…" Xander was elbowed in the ribs in time with the chiming of the bell over the door.

"SURPRISE!!!!"

The Harris' stopped when Willow shouted and were faced with her, Joyce, Dawn, Spike and Giles…

"I'm taking this soddin hat off," Spike snarled and yanked the paper cone off his head. He threw it over his shoulder at Xander when he walked past them to the door of the back room.

"For once I concur," Giles removed his hat, but chose to simply set it on the glass counter top. He rolled his eyes when he caught Willow's pout. "But Happy Anniversary, you two."

"I like the hats," Joyce smiled at her daughter's childhood friend reassuringly while starting towards Buffy and Xander. "They're a nice touch." She pulled her daughter into a tight hug before reaching out to include her husband, "Congratulations, sweetheart." She released them both, but kept a grip on their shoulders. "You've put up with her for a whole two years."

"MOM!" Buffy pretended to be slighted and shrug her mother's hand from her.

"It's been tough," Xander played along for the sympathy, "but I'm not a quitter." He winced when Buffy swung across and punched him in the shoulder where she had kicked him earlier. "Plus, she's not bad to look at…" he turned to Dawn and wagged his eyebrows, "Like her sister." 

"Happy Anniversary, Xander," the youngest Summers blushed and stepped forward to embrace her brother-in-law.

"Well, I tried," Joyce beamed pridefully.

"That's fine," Buffy tried to sound overly indifferent. She slide behind the counter next to Willow and hopped onto a stool, leaning on her friend's shoulder. "You guys love him so much, you take him. I'll stay here with Will…" Xander's eyes widened and he grinned salaciously through the other Summers' women fawning over him. "…and Spike and Giles," Buffy added with a smirk.

"There's a plan," Spike's accent preceded him back into the main store room before he came stumbling hurriedly through the door way. He grinned at Buffy and Willow and started towards them.

"Heyheyhey, Snow White," Xander threatened with a small grin as he stepped past Joyce towards the counter. "You touchy, I punchy, right Buff?"

"Yep," she smiled at his glee over her agreement, and Spike growled. 

"Lousy soddin party fouls…" the vampire grumbled and rolled his eyes when Buffy stuck her tongue out at him.

"So, Buffy," Giles asked from over the top of a book he picked up from the center table. "What have you two been up to today?" He looked up at his former charge when she was quiet and then turned to her husband and found both of them looking slightly flushed and unable to meet his eyes.

"Take a wild guess," Dawn snickered and her mother pushed her shoulder in disbelief. "What? I'm just considering what non-celebratory days are like…"

"Bloody children," Giles muttered and shut his book. "Well what else do you two have planned for today? Is that a less embarrassing question?"

"Probably not," Willow muttered, unable to stop herself, and was met with an earnest look from the slayer along with a muted giggle from Dawn. Both Buffy's and Joyce's glares shut her up though. 

"Well," Buffy stood up and started towards her husband, who she saw was in the midst of a small argument with Spike over some weapons that were on display in the corner. "We've still got to go do our gift thing…"

"Gifts?" Xander's head perked up. He sent Spike one last withering glare before meeting Buffy at the table where Giles was still sitting, and Dawn slide into the seat next to him. 

"At the high school?" Joyce asked, semi-excitedly, Xander noticed. When Buffy's mother came to their side and rubbed her back lightly, Xander noticed a weird look pass between them. 

"Yep," Buffy grabbed Xander's right hand in both of hers and held on as she bounced on the balls of her feet. "Then we're all meeting at mom's for dinner, right?" she looked around the room for confirmation.

"Everyone but me," Spike piped up and everybody stopped their nods to look at him. "Got plans…"

"If you're waiting in the bushes outside of Joyce's again," Xander started to warn.

"Xand gets punchy," Buffy finished for him and her husband nodded.

"You guys gonna go now?" Willow looked and sounded excited, too. Now Xander was suspicious. Everybody in the room was eyeing them and smiling like they knew something that he didn't...well, everybody but Spike. He maintained his matching grin and cut his eyes to his beaming wife and she smiled up at him.

Yeah, something was up.

"Yep," Buffy repeated again, tugging Xander's hand. "We're on our way…"

Xander's childlike innocence broke out again through his suspicion. "To my gifts."

"Gift." Buffy looked up and corrected him.

"Cheap," Xander shot back with a joking smirk.

"Divorced." Buffy's eyes twinkled back.

"Remarried."

"Retching." Spike sneered from across the room.

Buffy stuck her tongue out at him again. "Leaving," she smiled to the rest of the room and started pulling Xander back to the door. "Thanks for the mini-party Wills," she smiled back.

"Glad to do it," the Wicca grinned widely. "I'll have another one…a bigger one, with cake and…"

"No hats," Giles interjected. "I have my pride."

"After…" Willow sputtered to a stop.

"After what?" Xander pressed and pulled back against Buffy's lead.

"Mush," Buffy tugged again and Xander stumbled after her through the door and onto the sidewalk.

"AFTER WHAT?!" his voce was muffled through the glass as he was led away.

Willow looked sheepishly after her friends as the disappeared from sight and fidgeted under the gazes of the other occupants of the room. 

"Way to almost ruin it," Dawn spoke first, but not in a completely mean tone, and was nudged by her mother again when Willow looked down shamefaced. "What?! You all were thinking it."

~*~

SHS #3

~*~

Xander jogged around to Buffy's side of the car and gallantly made a show of opening the door for her. She smiled and took his offered hand, letting him pull her out of the car before shutting the door after her.

"What was all that creepy grinning about back at the shop?" he asked philosophically as the walked hand and hand to the front steps of the high school. "It was like somebody slipped them all crazy pills."

"They were happy for us," Buffy defended their friends and squeezed his hand a little bit harder. Her own palms were starting to moisten, and she assumed that he felt it because he cast her a sideways glance. She smiled up reassuringly at him and he returned it. "Here?" She gestured to a spot on the stairs for them to sit.

Xander plopped down and leant back against the granite wall while Buffy moved to take a seat one step above him. He stopped her with a slight squeeze of her hand and tugged her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist from the side and pressing a kiss to her shoulder through her shirt. "Okay," he said with a dramatic deep breath. "I'm ready to be showered with your monetary affection."

"You go first," Buffy spoke hurriedly and Xander's eyes opened in a show of mock dejection.

"I always go first…"

"Don't I know it." Buffy couldn't resist that one, and she pat his head lovingly by way of apology.

Xander narrowed his eyes and kept talking, "I had to ask you out, and I had to kiss you, and I had to pay that demon attack you and get you all bruised and slimy so that you would come back to my place and shower all wet and soapy and nak…" He shook his head and smiled while his wife glared, "…and I had to propose."

"You paid who to do what?"

Xander gulped because Buffy's good natured threats were usually the most volatile. "I love you?" When her menacing façade slipped he sighed in relief. "So, I've got to go first, huh?"

"Well," Buffy sounded innocently teasing. "I don't want to show you up…"

"Ah ha, so that's what this is," Xander looked affronted. "You're trying to best the master this year."

"The master cheated last year." Buffy countered. "You can't buy secret tickets to Hawaii and expect me to be able to match it with videogames."

"I love the Xbox," Xander said seriously with wide eyes. "I call her Boxy…or X-iey…or sometimes Priscilla…"

"Do you like that name?" Buffy asked completely serious and out of the blue.

Xander looked confused and shrugged. "It's okay. I would've called it Elvis, but you already look at me kinda funny."

Buffy giggled a little and scratched her fingers up and down the arm around her waist. "So, you want to start?"

Xander looked suspicious but still wore a crooked smile and shook his head slightly. "I think I want to know what you've got."

Buffy took a deep breath and wiped down the left side of her face with her hand nervously. "Ok." Her husband made a show of holding out his hands in anticipation, but she shook her head negative. "I've got talking to do first."

"Typical," Xander choked under his breath and Buffy elbowed him lightly.

"Do you want this or not?" The threatening tone reemerged and Xander nodded immediately. "Ok…ok, so just listen for a little bit, alright?" He nodded again. "Yeah…so, ok…"

"Ok," Xander teased with a grin and she slit her eyes at him again.

"I like this place," Buffy said after another breath.

"Is this *the* talk, now?" He was silenced when Buffy's eyes met his, not in anger but in more of a nervous plea and he tightened his hold around her, foregoing the joke.

"I liked when you brought me here and asked me to marry you, and you said that this was the only place that you could do it. You said that even though I blew up the original high school, this one was as close as you could get to the exact location where you first saw me and your life changed forever." Buffy relaxed a little bit more against her husband when she felt his lips press against her shoulder again, and then against her cheek. She smiled slightly and shut her eyes. "I thought that was the sweetest thing anybody had ever done for me," she continued to play with his arm anxiously. "And I thought it was sweet last year when you said that we should come back here again on every anniversary…every year come back to the place where we first met and look to see where we are now."

Buffy reached into her fairly large purse and pulled out a medium sized white envelope. She ran her fingers over the edges and focused on the color of the paper instead of Xander's inquisitive gaze. "It's why it was important that we came back this year to do the gift thing again….To see where we are now…" She, with a hint of shyness, slipped the envelope into his hand and kept her eyes focused on it.

Xander studied the package around his wife because he never unwrapped her from his arms. "What is this?" he asked quietly and turned his gaze up to the side of her face. "Taxes?" Buffy chuckled breathily and it encouraged him. "You did our taxes early for us…we're going to be audited aren't we?"

"Just open it, Xand." Buffy pleaded and ducked her head again.

Xander hummed and bit his bottom lip, his fingers going to work at tearing open the paper. When it was open he pulled out the single sheet inside and quirked an eyebrow. "I don't think I'll have a problem beating the gift of paper…" He said as he turned it in his hands to look at it more closely.

"It's not just paper," Buffy chided and snatched it from him. She held it in front of her and Xander squinted his eyes at it from a new angle.

"An x-ray?" Then his eyes went wide, "Gahhhrr…."

"It's not a Priscilla." Buffy spoke quietly and studied the black and white scope-view print out.

"What is that?" 

She couldn't contain her grin when she turned and saw Xander's borderline frightened expression.  "A sonogram picture of your son," she answered matter-of-factly just to freak him out more with her calm.

"My…my son?" Xander looked at the printout with wide eyes. "You got me sons…"

"Just the one so far," Buffy said in a still eerily calm tone.

Xander was shaking beneath her when he snatched the picture out of her hands again and studied it closely, a wide smile splitting his face. "It's my boy…" he finally met Buffy's eyes and without hesitation met her halfway with a deep kiss over the photo. He pulled away after a moment and looked back and forth between her and it and then rested his hand over her stomach. "Hell yeah that's my boy," he said again, with his eyes twinkling. 

Buffy peered closer and bit her bottom lip, "Yeah, but that," she pointed at what she saw Xander squinting at, "is his arm." He pouted up at her, but when he looked back at the photo his bright smile returned. "That forehead is all you though," she traced her finger over where the baby's head was, but laughed when Xander's hand moved minutely from her stomach to her side and he pinched her.

When she squirmed against him and turned to protest he caught her in another kiss. "Happy Anniversary," she whispered into his mouth and Xander responded by holding her tighter. "So," Buffy smiled when he allowed her room to pull back, and she snuggled against his front. "What you get me?"

This time Xander sucked in a nervous breath, but nothing would erase the pure white glow surrounding the both of them. "Ummm…how do you feel about…uh…diamonds?" he smiled hopefully.

"They're ok…so not something I would turn down." Buffy's words downplayed the anxiously excited smile on her face. She followed Xander's distracted gaze back down to the picture that he was still holding, but refocused when he cleared his throat and spoke again. "Well then…let's go get ya some…" She looked at him confused and Xander chuckled. "Cuz, somehow, I don't think the George Forman grill in the trunk is going to shine in this situation."

She laughed and rubbed her hand lightly down the side of his face. "It'll come in handy later for sure," Buffy smiled and leant her head against his and let her hand joined his in the unconscious rubbing of her stomach and they both looked at the picture again. 

"Best 2nd year ever," Xander whispered and his wife nodded.

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The End

If you guys haven't answered this challenge yet, there's still time. C'mon!!!!


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